THE Dessert: Chocolate Truffle Cake

This Recipe is for the Best Dessert Ever
It is an extra special occasion only recipe
It is so good that when my sister was having her first baby, she said I couldn't come see my new nephew without it.  Yes it is that good.  So good that you will do irrational things like keep your sister away from your baby until a Chocolate Truffle Cake is Delivered.
Without Further Ado, I present 


Tiffany's Truffle Cake
The Deets
2 sticks Butter (1 Cup)
6 oz Unsweetened Chocolate
6 oz Semisweet Chocolate
5 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1/3 Cup Corn Syrup (I mean liquid Corn Sugar)


Prep
Line the bottom of a 9 inch spring-form pan with parchment paper
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees


The Instructions  
DO NOT DEVIATE! 
Melt Butter & Chocolate together & let cool

Once cool add Eggs, 1/2 Cup Sugar, Vanilla & Almond Extract
Whip to Triple Volume

Separately Mix remaining 1/2 Cup Sugar & Corn Syrup and bring to a Boil
Add boiling mixture to Chocolate Mixture
Mix until Smooth
Pour mixture into a spring-form pan 
Place spring-form into larger pan & fill larger pan with 1 inch of water

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Garnish as Desired (this is supposed to be a maple leaf to celebrate fall)
WARNING! This is a very rich dessert, the cut made in the above photo was 4 servings

I have been making this Truffle Cake for years & I didn't think it could get better, but then my friend Jen brought her butterscotch over to go with another dessert and I accidently got some on my truffle cake - let me just say amazingly good, rich chocolate with slightly savory butterscotch - delish!  But use the butterscotch sparingly to avoid a sugar coma. 

Jen's Butterscotch Recipe

 1/4 cup Butter

1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Melt butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, cream and salt and whisk until well blended.  Bring to a very gentle boil and cook for about five minutes, whisking occasionally.

Remove from heat and add one teaspoon of the vanilla extract whisk until combined.

Let cool slightly.

Drizzle over your favorite dessert.

Enjoy these two recipes separately or in collaboration for a dessert you won't soon forget.

Holiday Ideas: Christmas Cards & Hats from Shutterfly & Lemondrop1222

Today is all about shameless advertising.

First up: Shutterfly Photo Cards

I have never actually sent Photo Christmas cards, I've always said I wouldn't do it until I had kids.  But then I got to thinking - why?  My life is interesting right?  I'm sure my friends are just as interested in the happenings in our house as they are in our friends with kids lives.  That being said, I've now officially changed my mind and this year I am sending photo cards.  They may have pictures of food instead of the family, but Photo cards they will be!

Have you looked at shutterfly.com lately? They have some gorgeous Christmas cards that are even reasonably priced. As an added bonus if you are a blogger you can sign up at this link: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly. The hard part is that there are so many great options, I don't know which one to choose!  Here are a few of my favorites:

Hmmm come to think of it I wonder if I could order these with the stock family...that would really get people talking.  Ok I won't really do that, it will be dog or food. Tough decision.  One thing is sure, I will be ordering my Christmas cards from Shutterfly this year.

As for Christmas Gifts, My friend Kaley has this great etsy store. She makes the cutest hats!  You can custom order any color combo or if you have an idea she will do what she can to make it for you.  I personally have ordered 1/2 a dozen baby hats for gifts this year alone.  Right now she's working on a hot for me, which I'm super excited about.  Here are a few of her creations.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas to get ready for the holidays.
Happy Holidays!

The Best of the Mex - Mexican Throwdown

One of the Great things about OKC is the great variety of good Mexican Food

Here is the rundown on 4 local Mexican Restaurants

The Contestants

*Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant

*Ted's Cafe Escondido

*Mamasita's

*Pepe's

The Rules

Restaurants will be judged on the following:

1. Chips & Salsa (Queso if applicable)

2. Enchiladas (contents & sauce)

3. Beans & Rice

First Up

Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant 

1718 East 2nd St. Edmond, OK

The Lowdown:

1. Chips & Salsa: The Chips are Fresh, Thin & Lightly Salted (not enough salt for me)

The Salsa - My Favorite of the Bunch, the perfect blend of tomatoes, garlic, peppers & spices; It's on the Mild side which I love.  They also have a hotter salsa upon request - it's a little too hot for me but has a great smokey chili flavor

Queso - Creamy, Mild & perfect with salsa on top (I'm not a huge Queso fan, but Husband ranks it as #2)

2. Enchilada: Chicken Enchilada with Tomatillo Sauce - Best Enchilada Sauce Ever! It's tangy, savory, fresh, flavorful - perfect! The chicken is perfectly seasoned & shredded.

3. Rice & Beans: Spanish Rice and Refried Beans I love the rice; It's always cooked to perfection & perfectly seasoned. As far as refried beans go these are as good as they get.(I'm not a big refried beans fan, but I always eat a few bites) 

4. Bonus: Sopapilla with your meal  (I always pass but take 1 bite of husbands) Light & fluffy with cinnamon sugar & honey - the perfect last bite

The Los Arcos Score: 

Chips 4/5

Salsa 5/5

Queso 4/5

Enchilada 5/5

Rice & Beans 4.5/5

Ted's Cafe Escondido 

Multiple Locations in Oklahoma City Metro 

The Lowdown:

1. Chips & Salsa: The Chips are Fresh, of medium thickness & perfectly salted

The Salsa -  Good Stuff, a fresh blend of tomatoes, peppers, spices with a bit too much onion.

Queso - Creamy & perfectly seasoned. This Queso is lo mejor! Delicioso! Ted's Queso is Husband's #1 Pick

2. Enchilada: Chicken Enchilada with Tomatillo Sauce - The Sauce is good, but very commercial and a little over processed and the chicken is nicely shredded.

3. Rice & Beans: Spanish Rice and Refried Beans The rice is really good, well seasoned and just the right texture. The Beans are not nearly as good, the flavor is flat and the consistency is too muddy.

4. Bonus: Sopapilla with your meal  Light & fluffy but a little heavy on the cinnamon sugar 

5. Double Bonus: Perfect homemade flour tortillas - these are probably the best tortillas I've ever had & the only place I'll calorie splurge on tortilla & queso!

Ted's Score: 

Chips 3/5

Salsa 4.5/5

Queso 5/5

Enchilada 3/5

Rice & Beans 3/5

Mamasita's

1121 Northwest 63rd Street

Nichols Hills, OK

The Lowdown:

1. Chips & Salsa: The Chips are Fresh, Thin & Absolute Perfection - This may be the perfect chip

The Salsa - Over processed, too much dried spice flavor, but still ok.  It has a little more kick than the other competitors. 

2. Enchilada: I had the Chicken Enchilada with Salsa Verde Sauce & the Seafood Enchilada with Cream Cheese Sauce.  The Chicken Enchilada was fantastic, very flavorful, the sauce was good too - but there wasn't enough of it, so the enchilada was a little dry.  

The Seafood Enchilada, was well, not good. I ate 2 bites & that was all I could handle...not good. It was all mooshy yet dry at the same time & way too garlicky.

3. Rice & Beans: Spanish Rice and  the option of Black or Refried Beans. The Rice was overcooked and dry, the flavors were not there - again stale dried spices. Not so good. The black beans were also over cooked, but were ok. I'll take black beans over refried any day.

4. Bonus: Sopapilla for 50 cents  Light & thin with cinnamon sugar & honey - good, but a little too much cinnamon sugar 

The Mamasita's Score: 

Chips 5/5

Salsa 3/5

Enchilada (Chicken) 4/5 (Seafood) 1/5

Rice & Beans 1/5

Pepe's Mexican Restaurant 

1701 S. Broadway. Edmond, OK

The Lowdown:

1. Chips & Salsa: The Chips are ok, just normal chips. 

The Salsa - Is good; a nice blend of tomatoes, peppers, onions, & spices; It's a little spicy but in a good way.

2. Enchilada: Chicken Enchilada with Sour Cream Sauce - The sauce was good, a little heavy for my taste, but the chicken is perfectly shredded & well seasoned. The big downside for me is that Pepe's doesn't have tomatillo sauce - which is my favorite, but as far as cream sauce goes, Pepe's is pretty darn good.

3. Rice & Beans: Spanish Rice and Refried Beans. The rice is good, good texture, good flavor.  The beans are pretty good too.  Pepe's gets the #2 slot for beans & rice.

PePe's Score: 

Chips 2/5

Salsa 3.5/5

Enchilada 4/5

Rice & Beans 4/5

The Undisputed Winner: Los Arcos

Los Arcos wins on Salsa, Enchilada & Beans & Rice + they have the best service.

Ted's Cafe Escondido wins on Tortillas & Queso - but they have the worst service.

Sugar, Sugar... Cookies that is

The Perfect Sugar Cookie is Hard to Come by

I just so happen to have the Recipe...

But I'm not quite sure I'm ready to share it...

I am however willing to share this

Frosting, Icing, Sugary Goodness

The Best Frosting Recipe Ever!

1 Cup Butter

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

4 Cups Sifted Confectioner's Sugar (Must be Sifted!)

2 TBS Milk

COLOR!

Enjoy your Perfect Frosting! 

Maybe Someday I'll share the cookie recipe.  

Someday, not today & tomorrow's not lookin' good either...but someday